Strategic Public Relations

Top 10 Blog Posts and Other Content That Stands Out From The Crowd

We’ve pointed you to AideRSS before in a previous post. It provides a quick and easy to determine which content on a blog is the most popular.

Note I did not say which content is the best. Despite the fact that this qualitative measure is subjective, the best content does not always generate the most quantitative buzz.

My 10 most popular posts are below, more details on my blog content can be found here.

1.Research Shows Web 2.0's Future is in Business Collaboration

2. Lasting Impact: Storytelling Makes Messages Memorable

3. Daryl Toor is a Tool

4. CBS: The Magazine?

5. Ready to Pitch a Blog? Take This Quiz First

6. PR Opportunity in SEO is Short-Sighted

7. This Blog is Five Years Old

8. In Your Face: Ad Placements of Tomorrow

9. Top 10 Twitter Hacks

10. Branding a Destination – BrandingWire 2

Crowd jumping!! uploaded by Being LarsLars
tags | public relations | PR | advertising | marketing | blog | branding

A BtoB Marketing Checkup – BrandingWire 4

It’s always fun explaining business to business marketing at a cocktail party. The people asking are really just making conversation by asking what you do for a living. So you need an easy-to-understand elevator speech or eyes will glaze over – quickly.

But after 15 years of it, I still love BtoB. So when BrandingWire suggested we help a BtoB marketing firm, I was more than ready.

Our brief notes that the marketing firm is losing contracts to lower pricing and to bigger firms. They don’t know how to differentiate themselves from other firms and have stopped growing. They have little repeat business and focus on clients in the high tech and healthcare sectors with anywhere from $1 million to $25 million in annual revenue.

Here’s my quick take on what they should do.

Study Up: The first instinct is for action, but the firm needs data to make the best decision. An analysis of its competitors, of itself and of its customers is in order. In addition to existing customers, incentivize old customers to give you some honest thoughts on why they went elsewhere. And don’t forget the most overlooked source in this analysis – vendors and ad reps. They get to see several sides of the firm and its competitors in many instances.

Focus: The range of its clients’ annual revenue tells me the marketing firm has little focus. It costs the marketing firm the same amount to deploy themselves regardless of client size. What does the right client look like?

My last place of work created a standard scope of engagement that ensured only certain-sized clients were taken on. It wasn’t always easy news to deliver, but it helped us stay focused.

Now Really Focus: The healthcare and high-tech industries are vast. But I suspect there’s a sweet spot where the two overlap with the marketing firm’s expertise. With a client profile and market in mind, business development should benefit immediately.

Big Secret: The hardest part of this exercise is not deciding what the marketing firm should be, it’s deciding what the marketing firm shouldn’t be. This is partly because it requires a firm to turn away certain clients and possibly even fire some existing ones that don't fall within the firm’s new focus.

The above process should help the marketing firm realize the best point of differentiation. From here a marketing campaign can raise awareness of the firm’s new focus. Existing customers should get special attention as part of this campaign -- showing them that their input was acted upon is important.

Get more high-voltage ideas at BrandingWire. And be sure to check out the BrandingWire team’s individual blogs: Olivier Blanchard, Becky Carroll, Derrick Daye, Lewis Green, Gavin Heaton, Martin Jelsema, Valeria Maltoni, Drew McLellan, Patrick Schaber, and Steve Woodruff.

Check-up time for Prime. Plastic 52 (18/52) uploaded by ELTMAN
tags | marketing | BrandingWire | branding | brand

Driving Customer Loyalty at Car Dealerships – BrandingWire 3

The BrandingWire team takes on car dealerships this month. And what we’ve uncovered is straight out of Jurassic Park.

Car dealers seem to have been frozen and preserved for all time, as if trapped in amber.

Cars Change, Why Don’t Dealers? It’s ironic that new car models come out each year, but aside from an interior refresh, dealers don’t seem to change much – if at all.

The end result? As this image details, we found a lot of angst attached to the car-buying experience. Quite frankly, for many consumers, it sucks to buy a car.

When I was a kid going to a car dealership was an event -- complete with the colorful, plastic flag garland festooning the lot. Once I started buying cars, it was a whole different story.

It’s been awhile since I purchased a car (cheap practical Midwesterner and all). But the car dealership business model needs to change before a dealer’s brand can truly be repositioned.

A McKinsey study shows that dealers are more successful when paying attention to talent management, customer loyalty and planning. With that beam of hope lighting our way, here are some quick ideas to make the car buying experience better for the customer and, over the long term, the dealer.

Focus on Post-Sale: It costs more to get a new customer than it does to keep an existing customer. Yet many dealers disappear after the purchase.

There are endless opportunities to engage the customer with friendly tips, maintenance reminders and even milestone’s like the car’s “birthday.” Well-informed follow up is even more valuable when delivered via a customer’s preferred mode of communication.

A dealer could invest his annual giant inflatable budget into a simple CRM package that allows him to do more than send a letter when a lease is up or a factory recall is issued.

Segmentation: A shiny new CRM package (with undercoating of course) allows a dealer to take different approaches to a customer based on where they are in a lifecycle – higher-end models for older customers, safe, roomy cars for new parents and cool affordable rides for college grads. Dealers doing this strategically will have the customer, their friends and family coming to the dealership.

Create Good Great Will: One car dealers can erase the angst for them is to get involved in new and unexpected ways. In addition to sponsoring a little league team, designate a few cars for rotation across several local non-profits, complete with digital camera. This gives the non-profit a helpful resource, albeit temporary, and an opportunity to tell their story in a new way.

Car Blog: I know it’s shocking that I’m suggesting a dealer blog. But consider how much time a customer spends online before hitting a lot. Combine that with all of the knowledge sitting in a dealership that is never tapped into.

If I knew my Ford dealer had an informed opinion about new models and his staff had tips on better performance, maintenance and troubleshooting, I’d subscribe to the feed during the selection process and after purchase. Consider how all of this info, with plenty of images, might be of use to customers.

Auto Mall or Shopping Mall? The built environment at a dealership is pretty straightforward. There are many opportunities to stand out, but creating local relevance makes the most sense. A themed environment might become dated over time, but no one would forget which showroom they were in and they would not mind spending more time there.

Ad Age shows us how much car shopping has changed with online auto shopping and information sites like Vehix.com. The site is extending its content beyond its web site to cable TV and mobile phones.

"[Vehix.com] is going to change the whole dynamics of how dealers do business and how they treat customers."

For one web site to pull this off it will have to do more than extend its content to other platforms. It will have to be in production with Steven Spielberg.

Get more high-voltage ideas at BrandingWire. And be sure to check out the BrandingWire team’s individual blogs: Olivier Blanchard, Becky Carroll, Derrick Daye, Lewis Green, Ann Handley, Gavin Heaton, Martin Jelsema, Valeria Maltoni, Drew McLellan, Patrick Schaber, and Steve Woodruff.

car and crossbones uploaded by aythya_novaeseelandiae
tags | marketing | BrandingWire | branding | brand

Branding a Destination – BrandingWire 2

The July BrandingWire challenge is a destination - Estes Park, Colorado.

The BrandingWire bloggers are recommending ways to optimize this town’s brand based on a thorough project brief prepared by Martin Jelsema.

How do you brand a town? My hometown went through a similar exercise (unveiled in 2005) and, whether it’s a dot on the map or a product on the shelf, differentiation and relevance are important.

Standing Out From Ski Resorts & Sundance
Estes Park is a resort town nestled in a high-mountain valley with spectacular mountain vistas, the area teems with wildlife and is a summer destination for tourists. It’s cheaper than ski resorts and close to some of Colorado’s fastest-growing areas in the front range (cities where the bulk of Colorado’s residents live). How will it compete with higher end ski resorts and iconic events like Sundance? Estes will compete by being the alternative.

Be Proud
Estes Park’s rich history shows it is the prime location for hiking, fishing, horseback riding, sightseeing and family-oriented activities. It should always keep this in the foreground.

Go Green
At the same time, Estes needs to consider the future. Iconoculture feels the trend of sustainable leisure travel will be part of it.

Practical, budget-minded consumers care about the environment (and its effect on their bodies), too. They're looking for sustainable services and products at thrifty price points. America's Best Inns and Suites and Country Hearth Inns and Suites will begin offering EcoRooms that are more energy- and water-efficient. The rooms come with natural and hypo-allergenic toiletries, fragrance-free and nontoxic cleaning products, recycling receptacles.

This is just one way Estes Park could go green.

Get Real
Estes Park needs to position itself as the antidote to expensive ski resorts and Sundance. Estes offers an authentic adventure, Colorado for the rest of us.

As a result, the new tagline for Estes Park should be Real Colorado.

With its limited funds, the town should initially focus efforts on consumers within diving distance for vacations, day-trips and business events. With half of the population over 50 years of age, the town should also promote itself with residents as being the perfect place for remote reunions. Iconoculture sees multiple generations reconnecting on the road. Why not have the family come to Estes Park?

Get more high-voltage ideas at.BrandingWire. And be sure to check out the BrandingWire team’s individual blogs: Olivier Blanchard, Becky Carroll, Derrick Daye, Lewis Green, Ann Handley, Gavin Heaton, Martin Jelsema, Valeria Maltoni, Drew McLellan, Patrick Schaber, and Steve Woodruff.

tags | marketing | BrandingWire | branding | brand

Making Beans Magical Again – BrandingWire 1

It seemed only appropriate to compose this post from a local coffeehouse considering the assignment.

Our first mission? "A fictional,** small coffee company in mid-America has a few retail stores, has been in business for 8 years, and is moderately successful. They roast their own beans on-site and their stores are relaxed (kind-of country-funky).

There’s a very strong local attachment to the company with little recognition outside of the geographical area. Their brand name is OK, but certainly not anything special. They have a lame tagline (Great coffee at great prices!) and no distinctive identity pieces."

They want to grow, though they're not entirely sure what is the most profitable path. They sense the growing competition from Starbucks, McDonald's, Caribou, and Dunkin' Donuts. What should they do?

Having provided some unsolicited coffee advice to Starbucks, I guess I’m qualified for this. Normally I’d step through a process. But this is a blog post so, like any good cooking show, we’ll give the whole process and all the ingredients a quick nod, but show the final product for you to see.

Coffee Buzz, Crowded Space
A look at the landscape bodes well for our coffee client (CC), but it also shows why competition is fierce.

The San Diego Union Tribune notes that daily consumption of coffee surpassed sodas in 2007 for the first time in more than 15 years. In “The Buzz over Energy Drinks” NPR tells us teens and young adults spent almost $2.3 billion on heavily caffeinated drinks in 2006. That may explain why more teens are hanging out in coffee houses instead of malls. Coffee is appealing to a wider audience. A coffee house needs to be flexible to meet all of their needs.

Taking Seth’s Small is the New Big to heart, I’m proposing modest growth aimed at expanding regionally by a few locations. This will allow CC to become the anti-Starbucks, offering a more authentic, local experience than you’ll find at one of 13,000 locations worldwide.

CC will need a complete identity overhaul at existing locations prior to expansion. This includes creating a consistent brand with a new logo, tagline and standards that express what truly makes them different — Country Roast.

Country Roast
Creating boutique beans in small-batch production on site sets CC apart and should be played up. The roasting process should be brought to the front of the store so it’s visible to the customers — a front and center event. Ultimately, CC should offer roasting classes so customers can learn how to roast their own beans – free trade of course and offered in ample supply through CC.

On the Road, Online to Connect with New Customers
To get noticed in their new markets, a mobile roasting truck will canvass local events to show off the process and give out free coffee samples showing off their new look and directing customers to their website for more information.

The web site will tap into social media, serving up plenty of roasting content, photos of the truck at events and the owner’s blog, Coffee Talk, helps tell the story and engage customers in conversation. A full e-commerce component will also make bean sales possible online.

Branding Makes Magic Beans
The new, consistent look and the increased presence regionally and online will help differentiate CC and Country Roast. By introducing the customers to roasting and reinforcing its local presence, CC will connect with customers. The end result is a successful, profitable growth strategy (in less than 600 words).

**For the first BrandingWire post, we chose a hypothetical situation, but we plan advising on real situations in future posts.

coffee! uploaded by ziteng
tags | BrandingWire | Starbucks | Dunkin’ Donuts | marketing | branding | brand

BrandingWire: Blogging Collaborative Launches June 11th

Been busy with real work, but I’m very excited to finally announce BrandingWire. It’s a collaborative of 12 marketing bloggers with a wide variety of backgrounds that will converge on a marketing topic each month.

It was pretty easy to accept an invite to kick around branding-related topics with wicked-smart folks like:
Olivier Blanchard,
Becky Carroll,
Derrick Daye,
Lewis Green,
Ann Handley,
Gavin Heaton,
Martin Jelsema,
Valeria Maltoni,
Drew McLellan,
Patrick Schaber and
Steve Woodruff.

Steve Woodruff had the idea and energy to create this collaborative, so I’ll use his words to help describe it.

”The pundits of BrandingWire not only maintain individual content-loaded blogs, but also have banded together to collaboratively offer perspectives and commentary on a variety of branding themes. Each month, we focus our creative bandwidth on a particular branding challenge or topic, and collectively give our perspectives on how we’d apply best branding practices. So tune in, early each month, for the newest jolt from the BrandingWire team.”

You will be able to follow all of the action at the just launched BrandingWire blog. Posts on our first topic go live on June 11. In the meantime, if you want some more brand content, check out some of these posts.

Quiz : How many bird in this photos ... ? uploaded by Girl flyer
tags | BrandingWire | brand | marketing | branding